Privacy group files FTC complaint against Facebook for new privacy settings

A group that advocates for internet privacy has filed a complaint (PDF) with the Federal Trade Commission over Facebook’s new wide-ranging recent privacy changes.

Calling the action “the most significant case now before the Federal Trade Commission,” the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, said in a statement:

More than 100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook service. The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers.

The EPIC complaint alleges that far more data belonging to users is available both generally and to third-party Facebook app developers and cites massive outrage and coverage of the move in the media and in the blogosphere. Amusingly, the complaint also references the newly created Facebook groups “Against The New Facebook Privacy Settings!” and “Facebook! Fix the Privacy Settings.”

EPIC has been joined in the complaint by American Library Association, the Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Digital Democracy.